UDS Slump

Hey everyone! Long time since my last post. I had a catastrophic failure on my PC and just got going again recently. Glad to be back in action. Hope everyone is doing well!

Anyhow, main point of post, I seem to be in a lump with my UDS. Old leaky I have drafting issues with so it is down right now for remodeling. My Big Poppa drum I just seem to be in a major slump.

I still light my fire the same way as always. Coiled up newspaper sprayed with cheap cooking spray and a chimney with 7 or 8 decent sized lumps of coal. I let it get good and ashed and then dump it on my coal basket.

As soon as the heat gets about 25 degrees from my target range I start closing it down appropriately. Now that worked great for a long time and recently (last couple months) that is not the case. If I let it get to hot to set a good coal bed, it gets way hot and stays hot unless I choke it and then I get a smolder which leads me in to point number 2.

If I do it my normal way by shutting it down 25 degrees early, it seems all I get is a good smolder going. Crappy nasty smelling smoke. I am still using red bag Royal Oak lump.

Not sure what my issue is lately. Fortunately enough, I can still operate my good old trusty kettle with ease! :becky:

Hi Mc

Yeah I don't mind 275 at all. I roll with it. I got caught up in the 225 bit when I first started but quickly got many virtual slaps here due to it and I finally saw the light :-D If I drift up to 300 I don't sweat it. But I don't prefer any hotter.

As we speak, my drum has been lit for almost an hour and a half and it is now settled at 250 give or take. Nice looking coal bed as I put the ribs on. I battled through the smolder this time but normally I get stuck in a rut and can't get out either way other than really hot and fast. With my disability, I can't stand long enough to keep up with hot and fast so semi low and slow works for me. I hope I can get a grip on this soon. It worked wonders for me for a long time with temp control out of this world and as I say for the last few months, I question my abilities to run a drum anymore.

I have not been happy with Royal Oak for a little while but I still use it. Not sure if that is the issue or not. The one thing I know for sure the problem is not is the drum. It has great draft the way BP has had it engineered.

Maybe I am not letting the starter coal get ashed enough? That is far fethched but I guess could be the culprit, but it is heating up just fine, It is when I close the lid, open the daisy all the way and adjust my intakes. Maybe I am adjusting to much at once. Rarely to never do I cook with more than 1 hole out of 8 exposed. It runs 245-250 all day long configured that way.

On a side note, the humidity has been really bad this spring. The issues I am having now, I normally fight later on in the summer when the humidity levels are out of control. I try to keep my coal and all wood as dry as able. As I was saying, process has stayed the same nothing has changed, but different results this year.

Thats what I have been thinking Smitty.

I burnt a basket of bricks a couple weeks ago and shot through 8 lbs in 4 or 5 hours at around 300 degrees, but I didn't have the issues I have been having as of late using the lump. I was shocked at how fast it burnt the bricks compared to the lump . In my old leaky drum I can squeeze a good 12 hours out of a 8 lb load on a good day.